From: http://www.dhamma.org/index.htm

The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation *

Everyone seeks peace and harmony, because these are what we lack in our lives. From time to time we all experience agitation, irritation, disharmony, suffering; and when one suffers from agitation, one does not keep this misery limited to oneself. One keeps distributing it to others as well. The agitation permeates the atmosphere around the miserable person. Everyone who comes into contact with him also becomes irritated, agitated. Certainly this is not the proper way to live.

One ought to live at peace with oneself, and at peace with all others. After all, a human being is a social being. He has to live in society--to live and deal with others. How are we to live peacefully? How are we to remain harmonious with ourselves, and to maintain peace and harmony around us, so that others can also live peacefully and harmoniously?

One is agitated. To come out of the agitation, one has to know the basic reason for it, the cause of the suffering. If one investigates the problem, it will become clear that whenever one starts generating any negativity or defilement in the mind, one is bound to become agitated. A negativity in the mind, a mental defilement or impurity, cannot exist with peace and harmony.

How does one start generating negativity? Again, by investigating, it becomes clear. I become very unhappy when I find someone behaving in a way which I don't like, when I find something happening which I don't like. Unwanted things happen and I create tension within myself. Wanted things do not happen, some obstacles come in the way, and again I create tension within myself; I start tying knots within myself. And throughout life, unwanted things keep on happening, wanted things may or may not happen, and this process or reaction, of tying knots--Gordian knots--makes the entire mental and physical structure so tense, so full of negativity, that life becomes miserable.

Now one way to solve the problem is to arrange that nothing unwanted happens in my life and that everything keeps on happening exactly as I desire. I must develop such power, or somebody else must have the power and must come to my aid when I request him, that unwanted things do not happen and that everything I want happens. But this is not possible. There is no one in the world whose desires are always fulfilled, in whose life everything happens according to his wishes, without anything unwanted happening. Things keep on occurring that are contrary to our desires and wishes. So the question arises, how am I not to react blindly in the face of these things which I don't like? How not to create tension? How to remain peaceful and harmonious?

In India as well as in other countries, wise saintly persons of the past studied this problem--the problem of human suffering--and found a solution: if something unwanted happens and one starts to react by generating anger, fear or any negativity, then as soon as possible one should divert one's attention to something else. For example, get up, take a glass of water, start drinking--your anger will not multiply and you'll be coming out of anger. Or start counting: one, two, three, four. Or start repeating a word, or a phrase, or some mantra, perhaps the name of a deity or saintly person in whom you have devotion; the mind is diverted, and to some extent, you'll be out of the negativity, out of anger.

This solution was helpful: it worked. It still works. Practicing this, the mind feels free from agitation. In fact, however, the solution works only at the conscious level. Actually, by diverting the attention, one pushes the negativity deep into the unconscious, and on this level one continues to generate and multiply the same defilements. At the surface level there is a layer of peace and harmony, but in the depths of the mind there is a sleeping volcano of suppressed negativity which sooner or later will explode in violent eruption.

Other explorers of inner truth went still further in their search; and by experiencing the reality of mind and matter within themselves they recognized that diverting the attention is only running away from the problem. Escape is no solution: one must face the problem. Whenever a negativity arises in the mind, just observe it, face it. As soon as one starts observing any mental defilement, it begins to lose strength. Slowly it withers away and is uprooted.

A good solution: it avoids both extremes--suppression and free license. Keeping the negativity in the unconscious will not eradicate it; and allowing it to manifest in physical or vocal action will only create more problems. But if one just observes, then the defilement passes away, and one has eradicated that negativity, one is freed from the defilement.

This sounds wonderful, but is it really practical? For an average person, is it easy to face the defilement? When anger arises, it overpowers us so quickly that we don't even notice. Then overpowered by anger, we commit certain actions physically or vocally which are harmful to us and to others. Later, when the anger has passed, we start crying and repenting, begging pardon from this or that person or from God: 'Oh, I made a mistake, please excuse me!' But the next time we are in a similar situation, we again react in the same way. All that repenting does not help at all.

Then I must keep a private secretary ((Watcher)) with me, so that whenever anger starts, he says, 'Look master, anger is starting!' Since I cannot know when this anger will start, I must have three private secretaries for three shifts, around the clock! Suppose I can afford that, and the anger starts to arise. At once my secretary tells me, 'Oh, master, look--anger has started!' The first thing I will do is slap and abuse him: 'You fool! Do you think you are paid to teach me?' I am so overpowered by anger that no good advise will help.

Even supposing wisdom prevails and I do not slap him. Instead I say, 'Thank you very much. Now I must sit down and observe my anger.' Yet it is possible? As soon as I close my eyes and try to observe the anger, immediately the object of anger come into my mind--the person or incident because of which I become angry. Then I am not observing the anger itself. I am merely observing the external stimulus of the emotion. This will only serve to multiply the anger; this is no solution. It is very difficult to observe any abstract negativity, abstract emotion, divorced from the external object which aroused it.

This is a practical solution. An ordinary person cannot observe abstract defilements of the mind--abstract fear, anger, or passion. But with proper training and practice, it is very easy to observe respiration and bodily sensations--both of which are directly related to the mental defilements.

Respiration and sensation will help me in two ways. Firstly, they will be like my private secretaries. As soon as a defilement starts in my mind, my breath will lose its normality; it will start shouting, 'Look, something has gone wrong!' I cannot slap my breath; I have to accept the warning. Similarly the sensations tell me that something has gone wrong. Then having been warned, I start observing my respiration, my sensation, and I find very quickly that the defilement passes away.

This mental-physical phenomenon is like a coin with two sides. On the one side are whatever thoughts or emotions are arising in the mind. One the other side are the respiration and sensations in the body. ((Shin-shin ichi-nyo))Any thought or emotion, any mental defilement, manifests itself in the breath an the sensation of that moment. Thus, by observing the respiration or the sensation, I am in fact observing the mental defilement. Instead of running away from the problem, I am facing reality as it is.((By applying heat, attention, or love, X will take care of it. Like it will take care of the heart beat.)) Then I shall find that the defilement loses its strength: it can no longer overpower me as it did in the past. If I persist, the defilement eventually disappears altogether, and I remain peaceful and happy. ((Sort of like, Bio Feedback….))

In this way, the techniques of self-observation shows us reality in its two aspects, inner and outer. Previously, one always looked with open eyes, missing the inner truth. I always looked outside for the cause of my unhappiness; I always blamed and tried to change the reality outside. Being ignorant of the inner reality, I never understood that the cause of suffering lies within, in my own blind reactions toward pleasant and unpleasant sensations.

Now, with training, I can see the other side of the coin. I can be aware of my breathing and also of what is happening inside me. Whatever it is, breath or sensation, I learn just to observe it, without losing the balance of the mind. I stop reacting, stop multiplying my misery. Instead, I allow the defilement to manifest and pass away.

The more one practices this technique, the more quickly one will find one will come out of negativity. Gradually the mind becomes freed of the defilements; it becomes pure. A pure mind is always full of love--selfless love for all others; full of compassion for the failings and sufferings of others; full of joy at their success and happiness; full of equanimity in the face of any situation.

By learning to remain balanced in the face of everything one experiences inside, one develops detachment towards all that one encounters in external situations as well. However, this detachment is not escapism or indifference to the problems of the world. A Vipassana meditator becomes more sensitive to the sufferings of others, and does his utmost to relieve their suffering in whatever way he can--not with any agitation but with a mind full of love, compassion and equanimity. He learns holy indifference--how to be fully committed, fully involved in helping others, while at the same time maintaining the balance of his mind. In this way he remains peaceful and happy, while working for the peace and happiness of others.

This is what the Buddha taught; an art of living. He never established or taught any religion, any 'ism'. He never instructed his followers to practice any rites or rituals, any blind or empty formalities. Instead, he taught just to observe nature as it is, by observing reality inside. Out of ignorance, one keeps reacting in a way which is harmful to oneself and to others. But when wisdom arises--the wisdom of observing the reality as it is--one come out of this habit of reaction. When one ceases to react blindly, then one is capable of real action--action proceeding from a balanced mind, a mind which sees and understands the truth. Such action can only be positive, creative, helpful to oneself and to others.

What is necessary, then, is to 'know thyself'--advice which every wise person has given. One must know oneself not just at the intellectual level, the level of ideas and theories. Nor does this mean to know just at the emotional or devotional level, simply accepting blindly what one has heard or read. Such knowledge is not enough. Rather one must know realty at the actual level. One must experience directly the reality of this mental-physical phenomenon. This alone is what will help us to come out of defilements, out of suffering.

This direct experience of one's own reality, this techniques of self-observation, is what is called 'Vipassana' meditation. In the language of India in the time of the Buddha, passana meant seeing with open eyes, in the ordinary way; but Vipassana is observing things as they really are, not just as they seem to be. Apparent truth has to be penetrated, until one reaches the ultimate truth of the entire mental and physical structure. When one experiences this truth, then one learns to stop reacting blindly, to stop creating defilements--and naturally the old defilements gradually are eradicated. One come out of all the misery and experiences happiness.

There are three steps to the training which is given in a Vipassana meditation course Firstly, one must abstain from any action, physical or vocal, which disturbs the peace and harmony of others. One cannot work to liberate oneself from defilements in the mind while at the same time one continues to perform deeds of body and speech which only multiply those defilements. Therefore, a code of morality is the essential first step of the practice. One undertakes not to kill, not to steal, not to commit sexual misconduct, not to tell lies, and not to use intoxicants. By abstaining from such action, one allows the mind to quiet down sufficiently so that it can proceed with the task at hand.

The next step is to develop some mastery over this wild mind, by training it to remain fixed on a single object: the breath. One tries to keep one's attention for as long as possible on the respiration. This is not a breathing exercise: one does not regulate the breath. Instead one observes natural respiration as it is, as it comes in, as it goes out. In this way one further calms the mind so that it is no longer overpowered by violent negativities. At the same time, one is concentrating the mind, making it sharp and penetrating, capable of the work of insight.

These first two steps of living a moral life and controlling the mind are very necessary and beneficial in themselves; but they will lead to self-repression, unless one takes the third step - purifying the mind of defilements by developing insight into one's own nature. This is Vipassana: experiencing one's own reality, by the systematic and dispassionate observation of the ever-changing mind-matter phenomenon manifesting itself as sensation within oneself. This is the culmination of the teaching of the Buddha: self-purification by self-observation.

This can be practiced by one and all. Everyone faces the problem of suffering. it is a universal disease which requires a universal remedy--not a sectarian one. When one suffers from anger, it is not a Buddhist anger, Hindu anger, or Christian anger. Anger is anger. When one become agitated as a result of this anger, this agitation is not Christian, or Hindu, or Buddhist. The malady is universal. The remedy must also be universal.

Vipassana is such a remedy. No one will object to a code of living which respects the peace and harmony of others. No one will object to developing control over the mind. No one will object to developing insight into one's own reality, by which it is possible to free the mind of negativities. Vipassana is a universal path.

Observing reality as it is by observing the truth inside--this is knowing oneself at the actual, experiential level. As one practices, one keeps coming out of the misery of defilements. From the gross, external, apparent truth, one penetrates to the ultimate truth of mind and matter. Then one transcends that, and experiences a truth which is beyond mind and matter, beyond time and space, beyond the conditioned field of relativity: the truth of total liberation from all defilements, all impurities, all suffering. Whatever name one gives this ultimate truth, is irrelevant; it is the final goal of everyone.

The above text is based upon a talk given by Mr. S.N. Goenka in Berne, Switzerland.

Mr. S. N. Goenka is one of the foremost spiritual teachers in the world. He teaches a practical technique of meditation called Vipassana, which means "insight." Mr. Goenka has himself given hundreds of courses in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, U.S.A., Canada, U.K., France, Switzerland, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, etc. He has trained over 600 assistant teachers who have conducted courses in more than 80 countries including People's Republic of China, Iran, Muscat, UEA, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia, Mexico and all the countries of South America. The applicability of this technique to modern life and its rapid grass-roots growth has recently attracted considerable global attention, especially in the business and political communities.

In January 2000, Mr. Goenka was a featured speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which was attended by many of today’s international leaders in commerce, government, and philosophical thought. Mr. Goenka’s session on business and spirituality was delivered to a standing-room only crowd. In August, Mr. Goenka will be a speaker at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in New York. This conference will unite several hundred preeminent leaders from the world's great religious and faith traditions to pledge a commitment for the achievement of world peace.

Mr. Goenka was born in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) in a business family of Indian origin. Before the age of 30 he became one of Myanmar's ranking business figures, with offices in many countries. He was elected president of the Yangon (formerly Rangoon) Chamber of Commerce and head of many social, educational and cultural organizations. By any worldly measure he had achieved outstanding success. But he had not achieved the elusive goal of inner happiness and peace of mind. Instead, business-related stress brought on crippling migraine headaches, which the world's best doctors were helpless to treat — except with addictive and debilitating drugs. In his search for relief from the migraines, Mr. Goenka was urged by one of his friends, a Justice on the Supreme Court of Burma, to undertake a 10-day course of Vipassana Meditation from Sayagi U Ba Khin, who was then the Accountant General of Burma and a meditation master.

A Results-Oriented Technique
In the ancient Pali language of India, the word Vipassana means "to see things as they really are," and the technique is a method of self-introspection and observation. While Vipassana is firmly rooted in the teaching of the Buddha, it is not a religion and involves no dogma, rites or rituals. Instead of a system of faith, it is a system of experience — a way to discover how to live a happy and productive life. It is in effect a path of generic spirituality.

The practical, results-oriented nature of Vipassana appealed to Mr. Goenka. In 1955, he undertook a course under his teacher, U Ba Khin, and found that it was a life-transforming experience. By 1969, Mr. Goenka had become a teacher of the technique and introduced it back into India, the country of its origin. In that country still sharply divided by caste and religion, Vipassana was widely and easily accepted because of its non-sectarian nature. Ministers and other executives of many of the State Governments of India are now provided with time off with pay to attend a Vipassana course because of the many benefits it brings, including relief from stress and enhanced job performance.

In 1979, Mr. Goenka began traveling abroad to introduce Vipassana in countries of the East and West. In response to ever-growing demand, he has trained and appointed hundreds of assistant teachers to conduct 10-day residential retreats. These have been attended by hundreds of thousands of people of all backgrounds in more than 80 countries. Men and women of all walks of life have practiced Vipassana. They include the highly educated and the illiterate, the wealthy and the impoverished, aristocrats and slum-dwellers, devout followers of every religion and followers of none, the powerful and the powerless, the aged and the young.

In 1994, Mr. Goenka taught a 10-day course for over one thousand inmates, of various religious traditions, at India’s notorious Tihar jail in Delhi. It was the subject of the award-winning documentary film, Doing Time, Doing Vipassana, and recounts how the innovative jail superintendent, Kiran Bedi, utilized Vipassana to help transform Tihar. Since then, the federal government in India has distributed a circular encouraging the implementation of Vipassana throughout the corrections system. Many penal institutions now offer courses to staff and inmate alike, and some, including Tihar, have full centers within their walls.

In the United States, the North Rehabilitation Facility (NRF) minimum security jail near Seattle, Washington, has run courses for inmates since 1997. These courses were described in articles by the Associated Press (AP) and by articles published by numerous major American newspapers, covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and profiled in a story presented on National Public Radio (NPR). Another documentary, Changing from Inside, explores the effect of Vipassana on NRF inmates taking the course. Although currently under study, preliminary data reveals Vipassana to be very effective in reducing the incidence of re-arrest. Other U.S. corrections facilities are actively considering its adoption. Besides India and the United States, Vipassana has also been taught to prison inmates and staff in Britain, New Zealand, Taiwan and Nepal.

One of the most extraordinary features of Vipassana is that it is taught entirely on a non-commercial basis. All courses and all centers are financed solely by the donations of grateful students who have attended a retreat. There is no fee charged for the teaching or for food and lodging. Neither S.N. Goenka nor his assistants benefit in any material way from their work. All are required to have their own means of support. They teach Vipassana meditation as a volunteer public service without any discrimination of caste or creed, and without any taint of self-interest. Vipassana courses are regularly taught in each of the more than 75 Centers established by Mr. Goenka around the world. Seven of those Centers are located in North America in Western Massachusetts, Central and Northern California, North Texas, Southern Washington, British Columbia, Canada and Quebec, Canada. Information about Vipassana and the course schedule at each of the centers is given on the Vipassana Website at: http://www.dhamma.org.

For more information on Mr. Goenka's activities during his visit to the U.K. and U.S., please contact the media contact persons listed for each respective area on the Vipassana website at: http://www.dhamma.org/press.htm For any difficulties please contact: webmaster@dhamma.org

Self-introspection is a serious task, and a Vipassana course is a major undertaking. For 10 days the participants remain within the course site, cutting all contact with the outside world. They refrain from reading and writing, and suspend any religious activities. Among themselves they maintain complete silence, but are free to discuss difficulties or questions with the teacher or management. They begin by committing themselves to a code of moral conduct: for the period of the course, they abstain from killing, stealing, sexual activity, wrong speech and use of intoxicants. These are all actions that agitate the mind and interfere with the work of introspection. Having agreed to avoid them, participants can proceed with the task at hand.

The following is the general text of an address at the World Economic Forum, Jan./Feb., 2000, by S.N. Goenka on the subject of "morality" as the universal and essential element among all religions. ___________________________________